Society
Heimveld Society
Life in the Heimveld is a relentless climb up an unforgiving hierarchy, where every action, relationship, and opportunity is dictated by one’s place in the social order. Officially, this hierarchy is managed by the Archive, where a person’s rank determines the resources they are allocated—better food, clothing, housing, and transport are reserved for those who rise through the ranks of the government’s three branches. For those outside the system, life is no less stratified. Corporations, noble houses, and cartels dominate, their power measured in bribes and influence. Every citizen belongs to someone, bound by fealty to the person above them, while the High Council reigns supreme over all. At the very bottom of society are slaves, labouring in squalor with no hope of advancement. Everyone, no matter how high or low, is locked into this web of service and submission.
Within this system, communities form naturally along strata. Those of similar rank live together, eat the same rations, wear the same styles of clothing, and participate in the same rituals. The well-to-do share polite conversations in polished dining halls, while factory workers cluster in dingy tenements where they pool resources, care for each other’s children, and share meager meals. Relationships across strata are rare and frowned upon, a mark of shame for those who reach below or suspicion for those who reach above. For most, there is only one path forward: obedience and ambition. The lower classes endure miserable conditions in hive slums, undercities, and industrial suburbs where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. These hardships fuel a culture of relentless competition. Hustling and clawing one’s way to the top is seen not only as natural but righteous. Every victory over a rival, every bribe paid, and every back stabbed is justified by the belief that such drive propels humanity toward greatness.
Work is everything in the Heimveld. For most, jobs are assigned by the Archive, with promotions tied to loyalty and productivity. Occupations define identity—titles like “Archivist Second-Grade” or “Foreman” sometimes replace surnames, making an individual’s worth inseparable from their role. Losing one’s job is akin to losing one’s place in society, a fate many would rather die than face, and it’s not unheard of for a superior to give an underling the option. For those at the bottom, subsistence is all that can be hoped for. Factory workers and farm labourers survive on nutrient paste and rationed water, while low-level clerks might enjoy an occasional luxury like fresh bread. Black markets thrive in these conditions, where desperate people barter for forbidden goods or bribe overseers for better assignments.
Amid the struggle, leisure is both a fleeting escape and a reinforcement of the regime. The most popular form of entertainment is watching the exploits of Titans and Vanguard warriors, whose victories are broadcast as dramatized propaganda. Local heroes from a home region are celebrated, their deeds providing a rare sense of pride for the masses. Blood sports dominate public gatherings, with arenas showcasing gladiatorial combat between criminals, alien prisoners, beasts, or even machines. A brutal form of football, called Calcio, unites communities in violent, frenzied matches that are as much combat as ball game, with local guilds, noble houses, or cartels fielding teams as a matter of honor. Gambling thrives at all levels of society, from the crude dice games of slum dwellers to the high-stakes wagers of the elite.
Religion is ever-present, a unifying force and an unrelenting tool of control. In the Core Sectors, faith in the Unfallen and the Temple’s dogma is absolute. Citizens pray daily, offer thanks before meals, and confess their doubts to roving clerics. Burning Day ceremonies, where heretics are publicly executed, are both spectacles and moral lessons, reminding the faithful of the price of disobedience. After a few generations within the borders of the empire, nearly all citizens come to believe the propaganda without question. Sacrifices are made willingly, whether it’s a soldat charging enemy trenches, a factory worker sealing themselves into a venting corridor to save their crew, or a cartel enforcer executing a debtor without hesitation. Obedience is the path to ascension, as the Temple teaches.
Life on the frontier is different. In newly conquered regions or on the empire’s fringes, belief is weaker and independence lingers. Here, people tend to cling to their own traditions, resisting the Temple’s indoctrination. These are places where old faiths persist, whispered in secret, and heretical ideas are harder to crush. A miner scratching out a living in the Tethrium Belt or a Privateer skirting the Archive’s laws thinks very differently from a conscripted soldat freshly arrived from the Core. For these frontier dwellers, the empire’s grip is felt, but its hold is tenuous. Their survival depends not on obedience but on resourcefulness and defiance.
Yet even in the slums and on the frontier, the culture of hierarchy seeps into everything. Clothes, housing, even accents mark one’s status. At the lowest levels, citizens wear drab, utilitarian tunics in shades of gray and brown. Higher ranks enjoy finely tailored uniforms with crimson and gold accents, while the elite adorn themselves with ornate robes and gilded armor. People usually wear symbols of their loyalty to their “patron” or superior—whether it’s a cartel tattoo, a noble house badge, or a company emblem. These marks can make or break their lives as to go unmarked is to risk isolation and suspicion.
The Heimveld’s cities reflect this brutal order. Hive metropolises rise in towering spires, their uppermost levels gleaming with luxury while the undercity descends into darkness, filth, and decay. Temples and monuments to the Unfallen dominate every skyline, their towering golden domes and radiant symbols reinforcing the divine mandate of the regime. In every corner of the empire, architecture, art, and propaganda scream one unifying message: humanity is destined to conquer the stars, and obedience to the Heimveld is the only path forward.
From the downtrodden factory worker to the scheming noble, life in the Heimveld is a struggle to rise above, to prove one’s worth, and to serve the empire. It is a culture of ambition, fear, and relentless control, where every citizen’s life is both a sacrifice and a cog in the great machine of human destiny. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.